


Dreadful Tattlecrimes

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV), Pushing Daisies
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:40:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24703192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Vivian Charles knew all those dreadful things that awful Lounds woman said couldn’t be true. What a relief that she and Frederick Chilton are being brought to justice for their crimes!  And how is Hannibal’s husband? She understands that Will Graham is recovering from a bad fall, but she and Lily would love to meet him.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Kudos: 21





	Dreadful Tattlecrimes

**Author's Note:**

> This presumes that the woman Ellen Greene played, whom Hannibal met at the opera and was a guest at his dinner party is actually Vivian Charles as well from Pushing Daisies. It also offers a possible summary for events which might have happened after Hannibal ended. It presumes that Freddie Lounds wrote a book called Murder Husbands while Frederick Chilton published his sequel, Blood and Chocolate about Hannibal and Will. Yes, there were copyright issues as well as craziness. (wry grin) 
> 
> I own neither Hannibal nor Pushing Daisies, but the crazy fangirl within couldn’t resist running with this idea…

“I’m so glad you’ve been cleared of all charges, Hannibal!” Vivian Charles gushed, fluttering her eyelashes at the elegantly dressed man in the suit, sitting opposite her. “I knew what that dreadful Lounds woman said about your dinner parties couldn’t be true.”

“It would have pretty scary if it had been,” Lily quipped, taking a generous swallow of her martini. “You kept going back to his parties, Vivian. Who knows whom you might have eaten?” 

“Yes, who knows?” Hannibal smiled, a mysterious, teasing uplift of his generous mouth. He was an attractive man. Lilly would give him that.

“Well, I think Freddie Lounds was just jealous.” Vivian sat a little straighter in prim disapproval. “Being a tasteless person herself, she has to find fault with those with impeccable taste.”

“Or twist it into something straight out of a fairytale,” Lily added, watching Hannibal’s face. He’d be quite the devil at the bridge table, she was guessing with that poker face. 

“Freddie Lounds was entirely too eager to be part of the stories she told, even as she pointed the finger of accusation at everyone involved in them.” Hannibal took a sip of his own drink, relaxed and at ease in the Charles sisters’ home as he would have been in his own. “This is why she started stalking Will Graham. This is why she fell prey to Dr. Chilton the way she believed Will fell prey to me.” 

“Dreadful.” Vivian shuddered. “To think how that man used you to live out his own fantasies of cannibalism, all the while pretending to be a vegetarian.” 

“Guess crime was entirely too easy for both of them,” Lily said with a smirk. Although she herself owned a copy of Blood and Chocolate, Murder Husbands, and of course, Hannibal the Cannibal. 

“Never does Dr. Chilton reveal more of himself than when he’s writing, even when he’s attributing his crimes to me.” Hannibal lowered his glass, gazing at its contents. “Neither Miriam Lass nor Jimmy Price nor Jack Crawford and his young Agent Starling were fooled by Dr. Chilton’s performance.”

“A pity they figured it out too late to save Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier.” Lily gave Hannibal a sharp, appraising look. “You were once quite close to her.”

“She is still alive, though.” Hannibal’s smile faded. “Unfortunate as her fate was, it could have been much worse.”

“Thanks to Will Graham, along with Clarice Starling,” Vivian chimed in. “I’m amazed that he managed to save her, given his condition.”

“Will has never been able to resist the urge to help others, even when his own life and sanity are in danger.” Hannibal frowned at his own words, showing the first sign of real emotion Lily had glimpsed in him. “It worries me when he has so much to process and recover from. Dr. Du Maurier. Dr. Bloom.”

“Is it true that Chilton went after Dr. Bloom and tried to kill her?” Vivian lifted her hands to her lips. “He’s certainly one to pursue a professional rival to the grave.”

“Yes, he is.” Hannibal’s smile returned. “He doesn’t forget his promises. I doubt he’s forgotten them still, even though Dr. Bloom continues to elude him.”

“Let’s speaking of more pleasant things. Hannibal, when are we finally going to meet your husband?” Vivian’s smile returned full force. “We’re dying of curiosity.”

“Yeah, no need to stick the poor fellow in a closet and conceal him.” Lily leaned forward. “We’re not that conservative.”

“Will was still recovering from a bad fall when he found himself drawn into Clarice Starling’s case. He still needs some time to heal before he can face the world again.” Hannibal smiled back at both of them. “Soon as he’s ready, we’d love to have you for dinner.”

Lily shivered a bit. Something in the good doctor’s eye and his smile made her wonder, just for a moment, if it had all been a frame job, courtesy of Dr. Frederick Chilton. 

Right. Talk about letting her imagination run away with her. Next she’d be imagining the dead coming back to life with the touch of a finger. 

Oh, wait, that was possible. 

Lily swallowed and did her best to smile. Over-imaginative or not, she’d try to think of an excuse to avoid Hannibal Lecter’s dinner parties and keep her sister from them, too. 

Having someone for dinner had way too many double-meanings for Lily’s imagination to deal with.

**Author's Note:**

> Funny how Lily Charles and Abel Gideon think alike…Abel also thought Hannibal would be a devil at the bridge table and told him so in Mukozuke.


End file.
